The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has information about this project and its history:

"The Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot was born out of Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 6696 during the 2010 legislative session. The evaluation provisions in the bill were part of a larger reform effort made during Washington's Race to the Top application. The bill created our pilot project and moved the state from a two-tiered system of unsatisfactory, to a four-tiered evaluation system. In addition to moving to a four-tiered system, the legislation created eight new criteria for teachers and principal to be evaluated upon, with common themes tying the criteria for teachers and principals together. "